Peacekeepers Begin Pulling Out Of Haiti

U.S. troops began a phased withdrawal from Haiti on Friday, 15 months after ousting a brutal military regime and restoring President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power.

Sixty-six soldiers of the 5th Special Operations Group departed for Fort Campbell, Ky. At the Port-au-Prince airport, the U.N. military mission commander, U.S. Gen. Joseph Kinzer, thanked them for a job well done.

About 2,200 U.S. troops remain in Haiti, part of a 5,800-member U.N. peacekeeping force that is scheduled to leave by Feb. 29.

The next contingent of U.S. soldiers to leave will be several hundred troops with the 46th Engineering Battalion at Fort Polk, La. They depart Wednesday.